Spotlight: The Call to Authorship by Tim W. Lindsay
What happens when someone who has helped thousands of people become authors decides to put that experience into a book?
Tim W. Lindsay has spent more than a decade helping people turn ideas, expertise, and life experiences into published books. As the founder of Tellwell, he and his team have guided thousands of authors through that process.
In The Call to Authorship: How and Why to Write, Publish and Promote a Nonfiction Book, Lindsay brings that experience together in a practical 10-step guide for aspiring nonfiction authors. From finding clarity and overcoming the roadblocks that keep a manuscript from getting finished to choosing a publishing path and promoting the finished book, his focus is not simply on getting a book into the world. It's also about understanding why you want to write one-and what that book might make possible once you do.
The Call to Authorship: How and Why to Write, Publish and Promote a Nonfiction Book By Tim W. Lindsay
Published by Tellwell Publishing on November 2025
Genres: Non-fiction
Formats: eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 298
Embrace the call to authorship: 10 steps to leverage the power of a book!
Books help people—they inform, inspire, and engage. Books are also a powerful force for those who write them. Publishing a book builds your authority, sharpens your thinking, and opens doors to media exposure, speaking engagements, partnerships, and more.
Despite the greater accessibility of publishing than ever before, many would-be authors hesitate. They get stuck with self-doubt or believe producing a book is incompatible with a busy life. They may start writing but don't finish. Or they finish but don't publish or market their books.
The truth? With a little dedicated time, consistent effort, and the right guidance, anyone can publish a book that changes lives for the better. And they should.
Put down your phone. Take the leap from consumer to creator!
This step-by-step guide will show you how to:
- Use a one-page tool to clarify your goals, target audience and plan.
- Build an outline that drives your manuscript forward.
- Overcome mental roadblocks and craft habits to finish your first draft in months, not years—even with a busy schedule.
- Select a publishing model, refine your manuscript, and make informed design and distribution decisions.
- Employ promotional strategies to achieve goals that transcend royalties.Become more than you are. Have courage. Commit to growth by authoring a book, strengthening your ability to serve.
Reader Resources
Reader Info at a Glance
| Best For | Aspiring nonfiction authors, entrepreneurs, experts, coaches, consultants, and professionals considering a book |
| Approach | Practical, step-by-step guidance from idea and purpose through publishing and promotion |
| Focus | Writing with purpose, overcoming roadblocks, publishing decisions, and using a book to expand your impact |
| Experience Level | Especially useful for first-time and would-be authors looking for a clear path forward |
| Overall Feel | Encouraging, action-oriented, and grounded in real-world publishing experience |
For another thoughtful look at writing with purpose, visit my review of The Compassionate Writer.
Quick Take: A practical, encouraging roadmap for aspiring nonfiction authors who want to move from "I should write a book" to writing, publishing, and promoting one with purpose.
Things to Know: This is more than a writing guide. Lindsay also explores publishing choices, book promotion, and how nonfiction authors can use a book to build authority, reach new audiences, and create opportunities beyond royalties.
Excerpt
To give you a feel for the writing style, here's a brief excerpt:
We live in an age of swipes, scrolls and soundbites, where attention is fragmented and surface-level engagement is the norm. In such a world, choosing to sit down and write is bold indeed.
Writing a book is an act of meaning-making. It's how we wrestle with ideas, make sense of experience, and speak into the noise with words that are considered and enduring. It takes courage to believe that your words matter. It takes character to see them through and shape them into a book.
That journey often begins with a spark. Maybe you've been through something, built something, learned something-and now you feel the quiet tug: This should be a book.
But with that tug often comes hesitation: Who am I to write this? Will anyone care? I've heard those doubts from countless aspiring authors through my work at Tellwell, where we've helped thousands turn that first spark into a finished book. And I've watched them write anyway. What followed was often extraordinary.
For Cindy Cherry, that moment came unexpectedly. For years she resisted writing a book about her father, Don Cherry, the outspoken hockey commentator who became a household name in Canada. She feared a memoir about her dad might seem biased, or worse, opportunistic. But everything changed when a Google Alert lit up her phone screen: a news organization was praising the Western Hockey League for cutting ties with Don following what she calls "Poppygate," and for erasing his name from an organ-donation campaign he had helped champion, raising nearly half a million dollars. This cause was close to Cindy's heart. As a teenager she had donated one of her kidneys to her younger brother.
She realized that the public narrative was being written in a way that dishonoured the man she knew and loved.
The Call to Authorship may be especially worth exploring for anyone who has been carrying around an idea, experience, or area of expertise and wondering whether it could become a book. Lindsay's approach combines the practical steps of authorship with encouragement to consider why your book matters-and what you hope it will do once it's in the world.
Let's learn a little more about the author behind this book.
Meet the Author
Learn more:
Website | Amazon | Goodreads
Where to Buy
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Tour date: August 17, 2026. To see the full schedule of stops, visit the
Goddess Fish Promotions tour page.
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